iOS 6 can scale for larger iPhone displays

Apple's iOS 6 will be capable of scaling how it uses screen space to accommodate larger displays, reports have indicated.

9to5Mac has found that using iOS Simulator, an application used in developing iOS apps, they were able to adjust the iPhone resolution to 640 x 1136 pixels.

The modified resolution is the size rumoured for the new iPhone's screen, which is said to feature a larger display than existing iPhone models.

When the iOS Simulator was running the current iOS version 5.1, the increased screen resolution caused the four rows of home screen apps to spread out more across the larger screen space.

However, when running iOS Simulator with the latest preview build of iOS 6, a fifth row of apps was automatically added to fill in the additional screen real estate.

The test shows that iOS 6 is at least capable of recognising larger screen sizes for the iPhone. However it is not a direct confirmation that the new iPhone will feature a larger screen, since it is possible that the scaling display is residual code from Apple prototypes.